My Talk is on the COMMANDMENTS and I was also given the talk by Dallin

H Oaks from this past conference entitled “Love and Law” to reference andI will discuss points throughout my talk.When I taught 4th grade last year I always started out my lessons by tellingmy students what the objective was and then we would discuss WHY it wasimportant to learn this concept and also HOW we can learn this concept. Iwould like to apply this same process to my talk. The learning objectivefor my talk today is of course- Keep the Commandments. I will discussWHY it is important to keep the commandments and HOW we can do so.

WHYFirst, I want to start with not why we should learn to keep thecommandments but WHY we even have them in the first place. In a 1996April conference talk by Elder Robert D. Hales, explains it well:“Some may ask, “Why did the Lord give us commandments?” In premortalcouncils, He determined that we, His spirit children, would be givencommandments by which to live during our mortal lives. Jehovah, thefirstborn spirit child of our Heavenly Father, said: “We will go down, … andwe will make an earth whereon these [God’s other spirit children] maydwell,“And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all thingswhatsoever the Lord their God shall command them;” (Abr. 3:24–25).These commandments are loving instructions provided by God our Fatherfor our physical and spiritual well-being and happiness while in mortality.Commandments allow us to know the mind and will of God regarding oureternal progression. And they test our willingness to be obedient to Hiswill.”

So these commandments are given out of love for our instruction andguidance through mortality and to eternal life. We must remember that hehas not left you alone to flounder over what these laws are, or what isright or wrong. He is very specific and clear on how you should conductyour life as a member of His church. His laws are embodied in the TenCommandments, the Sermon on the Mount, and latter-day revelations.

There are several reasons why we should keep the commandments,

namely: It is our purpose on earth, it brings us happiness, growth andblessings, it protects us from the adversary, and ultimately it gives us thegreatest blessing of Eternal life.Purpose on EarthFirst we must remember our Heavenly Father created this earth for thesole purpose so that we could be tested and tried in keeping Hiscommandments. Ecclesiastes 12:13 states this well:“ Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep hiscommandments: for this is the whole DUTY of man”Therefore our duty and purpose is to show our obedience to the Lord,therefore showing WHY it is important to live them.Happiness, Blessings, and GrowthAnother wonderful reason why we should keep the commandments isbecause it will bring us Happiness and many blessings. “Men are that theymight have joy” and this joy will come from being obedient to thecommandments, The Prophet Joseph Smith taught this in saying:

“God has designed our happiness. … He never will institute an ordinance

or give a commandment to His people that is not calculated in its natureto promote that happiness which He has designed”

God meant for us to be happy and the happiness he planned for us is

found in living the commandments. However, many people feel that thecommandments are burdensome and that they limit freedom andconsequently their joy. But the Savior taught that true freedom comes onlyfrom following Him in John 8: 31-32 stating:

Choosing to live the commandments frees us from the shackles of sin andallows us to experience true happiness. We will not be weighed down withguilt, addictions, or sin. There is no joy in sin. As the prophet Alma taughthis son, “Wickedness never was happiness”. Thus to gain true happinesswe must be faithful and obedient to living God’s laws.

Additionally, I am always amazed at the Lord’s love for us. We should be

solely willing to keep the commandments because the Lord has asked usto, and for that reason only. But the Lord gives us even more incentive tobe obedient because we also get added blessings when we do so. We donot truly deserve these blessings from the Lord, but He loves us so muchhe wants to bless us.I have always loved the simple truths taught in Primary songs and thesong “Keep the Commandments” teaches these principles so well. It says:Keep the commandments!In this there is safety; in this there is peace.He will send blessings;Thus Elder Dallin H. Oaks also makes this point in saying:

“God’s choicest blessings are clearly contingent upon obedience to God’s

laws and commandments. The key teaching is from modern revelation inD&C 130:20–21 :“There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations ofthis world, upon which all blessings are predicated—And when we obtainany blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it ispredicated”.

Hence, WHY we should keep the commandments is because it is through

obedience to them that our Lord can bless us and receive great happiness.So we should rejoice in having the commandments- and never begrudgethem. They are one of our greatest sources of blessings on this earth andit what truly bring us happiness.

ProtectionIn addition to happiness and blessings, obeying the commandmentsprovide us with great protection. This is such a great blessing in a worldtoday that is constantly changing and growing more wicked. PresidentHeber J. Grant stated:

“The devil is ready to blind our eyes with the things of this world, and hewould gladly rob us of eternal life, the greatest of all gifts. But it is notgiven to the devil, and no power will ever be given to him to overthrow anyLatter-day Saint that is keeping the commandments of God..”Our strongest protecting in the world from sin and wickedness is throughkeeping the commandments. No wonder the Lord has so clearly laid outthese commands, because he wants to keep us safe as his children, so wecan return to live with him again. However, the opposite is true also. If weDO NOT keep the Lord’s commands then we lost that protection and Satanthen can slip in. And let us not get caught up in thinking that it is onlydisobeying the “big” commandment that can break down our protection. Ihave seen examples in lives around me that even stopping the little, easythings, such as scripture reading and saying our prayers can slowly lead toour shield of protection crumbling.Eternal LifeLastly, and probably most importantly, one of the greatest blessings wecan gain is given to those who are obedient and is taught in D&C 14: 7:“And, if you keep my commandments and endure to the end you shall haveeternal life, which gift is the greatest of all the gifts of God”.This and many other countless scriptures state that in order to enter intoHis kingdom and receive eternal life we must do his will and keep hiscommands. Therefore, since our goal in this mortal life is to gain ETERNALlife, we begin to see WHY it is truly so important to live thecommandments.I love the teachings of King Benjamin and he so well sums up all thesereasons of why we should keep the commandments in Mosiah 2: 41:"And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed andhappy state of those that keep the commandments of God, For behold,they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they holdout faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby theymay dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember,remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it"So we should live the commandments for MANY reasons: it is our duty, itwill bring us true happiness through blessings and protections and willlead to eternal life, which is our greatest goal. Thus, knowing this itshould not be hard to desire to live the commandments.

HOWNow that we understand WHY we must keep the commandments, weshould know how to do so.Understand the Law and LoveFirst there is some knowledge and understand that must be present tohelp us fully obey. One critical piece of knowledge is to understand theconnection between God’s love and law. Dallin H. Oaks in his “Love andLaw” address has some great insight into this connection. He said:

“The love of God does not supersede His laws and His commandments, andthe effect of God’s laws and commandments does not diminish the purposeand effect of His love.[An] examples which illustrate some mortal confusion between love andlaw is: A youth reacts to parental commands or pressure by declaring, “Ifyou really loved me, you wouldn’t force me.”He continues: Some seem to value God’s love because of their hope that His love is sogreat and so unconditional that it will mercifully excuse them fromobeying His laws. In contrast, those who understand God’s plan for Hischildren know that God’s laws are invariable, which is another greatevidence of His love for His children. Mercy cannot rob justice,2 and thosewho obtain mercy are “they who have kept the covenant and observed thecommandment” (D&C 54:6).”

Therefore it is important to know, as mentioned before, that the

commandments were given out of love and if we were excused from livingthe commandments then it would only show that the Lord does not love usenough to ensure that we are living righteously enough to inherit hiskingdom. I am so glad that the Lord does not let our misdoings beexcused and that he cares for us so much that he has giving us wonderfulguidelines and laws to live by. In understanding the true nature of theLaws and our Father in Heaven’s love we can more fully accept and willinglive the gospel.

FaithSecondly, with obedience there is a need for Faith. You must have faiththat the commands that the Lord gives us, through both scriptures andour living prophets, are for our benefits and will lead to blessings. Weneed to have faith and understanding like Nephi did when he said:“I will go and do. For I know that the Lord giveth no commandments untothe children of men, save He shall prepare a way for them that they mayaccomplish the thing which He commandeth them.” [1 Nephi 3:7.]We must have the faith that the Lord will never lead us astray and willnever command us to do something that will not bring us fulfillment andhappiness.Another wonderful example of this “go and do” attitude is Abraham, whodid not fully know the Lord’s purpose in asking him to sacrifice his son,Isaac, but was still was willing to obey the Lord because he knew the Lordwould not command him wrongly.Once we have faith in the Lord and his Commandments, we mustconsciously choose to act. Heber J. Grant said:“We are told that faith without works is dead; and I am sorry to say thatthere are many professed Latter-day Saints who are spiritually dead.”

Let us not be among those professed Saints who say they believe thecommandments of God but are not willing to act and live them.

Fully Commit to living the Commandments

Thus, we “must choose this day whom we will serve” and have thecommandments “written on our hearts” so that we will ACT on our faith.With faith and understanding in the commandments we must FULLYcommit to living them. Therefore we first need to now make our decisionof how we will act and if we will obey. Elder Sterling N. Sill spoke aboutwhat will happen if we are not fully committed.

“We always run into a great deal of trouble when we fail to make firm andlasting decisions to govern important matters. A psychiatrist once said toa mental patient, “Do you ever have any trouble making up your mind?”The mental patient said, “Well, yes and no.” A yes-and-no person is a weakperson. An undecided person makes far more than his share of mistakes.Certainly we place a serious handicap upon ourselves when we neglect todefinitely make up our minds about those important questions of [life]. “

Once we have made our decision to serve the Lord and be obedient wemust fully commit to living the gospel. Larry W. Gibbons shared why this isso important:

“In the priesthood leadership session of a regional conference, we sang the

hymn “Ye Elders of Israel.” The chorus contains a line “O Babylon, OBabylon, we bid thee farewell.” Following the singing, Elder Neal A.Maxwell spoke and expressed the thought that bidding Babylon farewell isactually one of our challenges, that too many of us like to keep a summercottage there. We cannot keep one foot in the Church and one foot in theworld. One reason is the world and the Church are rapidly diverging. Wewill lose our balance.”

We do not want to be caught standing in the uncertain middle, or be an

indecisive saint. Thus we must make sure we are not like the woman whokeeps the Sabbath day holy, unless she needs something from the store.Or the man who is honest in all his dealings until he cannot resist the urgeto exaggerate his tax deductions because it saves him over $1,000. Or thefather who is kind and gentle with his wife and children except when hehas had a difficult day at the office.Additionally, We cannot adjust the commandments to meet our needs.Robert D. Hales stated:

“Each of us is free to accept or reject the commandments, but none of us is

free to modify them to suit our personal preferences. Priesthood leadersdo not have the right to change revealed principles and commandmentsjust for the sake of being popular with the world. Nor do prophets havethe authority to alter God’s commandments in order to make them morepalatable to those who are weak in their resolve to live worthily.Rationalization that God should change His commandments toaccommodate our transgressions leads to spiritual darkness, which onlythe light of the gospel can remove.“

Therefore we must make sure we are not rationalizing our action of livingor not living the laws of the Lord. We must firmly decide to fully committo living the commandments. Through knowledge of our Father’s love,the promised blessings and with faith we can be more diligent in obeying.Thus in closing I would like to share my testimony that I know that inunderstanding god’s love for us and having faith in his commands andthen FULLY committing to live them will bring us all the wonderfulblessings earlier mentioned. I know that this is true and have a strongtestimony of it. I know that I am happier when I am living the gospel andhave both feet in the church. I know of the strong protection that comesas we live these commandments and what peace there is in knowing this.I am so grateful that we have a loving Father in Heaven and Savior whohave laid out a plan and laws so that we can return to live with them. Iknow that this gospel is true and have a testimony of it.